I've also been looking at Sor/Segovia No 1 and find it considerably more difficult than it appears (though that probably says something about my abilities). I'm not totally convinced by the performance on Tonebase, beautiful though it is. The problem as I see it (and I might well be wrong) is that the piece is mainly polyphonic in nature, not chordal - though of course the strands of the polyphony do create chords.

For example, in measures 5 to 8 you have a phrases of descending thirds in the treble alternating with the same pattern in the base, and to my mind, both need to be clear (I find articulating that is a bit like patting your head and rubbing your stomachs at the same time). Also, say, the descending melodic line in the base that starts in measure 10 does just stop at the start of measure 11 with the attention transferring to the treble but the base line carries on while the same pattern is repeated, overlapping (in canon?) an octave higher - both of the melodic lines need to be heard simultaneously for the effect to make sense. Etc, etc.

For me it is quite a difficult piece to play in the way that I would like to play it, bringing out the polyphonic lines.

Well put John. I thought that Tariq Harb discussed the polyphony pretty well, but maybe he just emphasized the bass line in the opening measures more fully than the rest of the voiceings later in the piece. I did find his performance compelling, but maybe he emphasized the chordal (choral) aspect over the polyphony more than you'd like. I'll listen again. Certainly it's the interplay of both that make this piece remarkable.

p.s. I always underplay the difficulty of pieces that I'm starting, probably to give myself courage to begin!

In yesterday's lesson, my instructor gave me 3 pieces to learn: Reverie, by Shawn Bell; Italian Dance, by Hans Neusiedler; and Kemp's Jig, by Autore Incerto. The last 2 are lute transcriptions. All three look pretty easy and shouldn't take long to work up.

I am working on the third Cello Suite, BWV 1009. Starting with the beautiful Bourees I followed with the Courante and the Sarabande. Now I started to get familiar with the Gigue which is not easy at all. It's going up and down the fretboard and the chromatic arpegios are quite a challenge as well.